Premier Junior Championship heads into its third day

Sometimes it takes just one play to change the course of a baseball game. In the Premier Junior Championship contest between Hitters Baseball (Wisc.) and Twelve Maroon (Texas) Thursday morning at Al Ortolani Field, Twelve Maroon led 2-0 in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Ry...

Sometimes it takes just one play to change the course of a baseball game.

In the Premier Junior Championship contest between Hitters Baseball (Wisc.) and Twelve Maroon (Texas) Thursday morning at Al Ortolani Field, Twelve Maroon led 2-0 in the bottom of the third.

With two outs, Rylie McKinney singled to right field and Matt Lemon, who led off the frame with a walk and stole second, attempted to score from second. Hitters right fielder Cyrillo Watson came up throwing and gunned down Lemon at the plate with a strike, retiring Twelve Maroon.

The defensive momentum carried over into the Hitters offense in the fourth and fifth, which parlayed six hits into five runs and a 5-4 victory.

In the fourth, Watson, Dominic Clementi and J.T. Athey hit three consecutive singles and Watson scored the first run on a Drake Danials bases loaded walk.

In the fifth, Twelve Maroon starter Craig Swanson tired and the first three Hitters Baseball hitters of the inning reached to load the bases for Watson. Gavin Lux and Justin Lavey reached on walks and Owen Miller loaded the bases when he singled off the glove of a diving Swanson on a ball near foul territory. The stage was set for Watson and the right fielder from Milwaukee cleared the bases.

Watson saved Hitters Baseball from a 3-0 deficit and then gave Hitters the lead on a three-run double. Clementi doubled home Watson and Hitters Baseball took a 5-2 lead.

Twelve Maroon scored two in the fifth but could not push across more runs against starter Tucker Maris and Miller, who completed the final two innings.

The South Texas Sliders Payne won the second game of the day 17-1 over the Midville Dodgers.

Payne scored six in the third, five in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Henry Hausman and Sterling Craig blasted home runs and eight different Sliders picked up RBI: Hausman five, Craig three, Travis Wills and Seth Hubert two each and Brock Keener, Travis Murphy, Parker Wodskow and Justin Farrar with single RBI.

During its second game of the day, Twelve Maroon overcame seven errors for a 11-4 win over the Dodgers.

Six players recorded extra-base hits for the winning team — Kyle Franz and Matt Lemon homered, Tyler Miller and Zac Pavelock tripled and Zach Smith and Dakota Beamon doubled. In addition to all the hits, Twelve Maroon collected four hit-by-pitches.

Mizuno Houston Select ended the day at Ortolani by jumping all over the Midwest Nationals Red in the first for eight runs en route to a 13-0 victory.

Three of the four games involved a winning team scoring more than 10 runs — Sliders Payne 17, Mizuno Houston 13 and Twelve Maroon 11.

JAYCEE BALLPARK

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In the first game of the second day at JayCee Ballpark, Houston Heat Silver defeated the Fort Worth Cats Black 4-1 as Heat Silver pitchers Ty Ewart, Trey Supak and Nick Masarik combined on a three-hitter.

Heat Silver broke open a close game with two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Andrew Fregia hit a home run and drove in two.

Jason Suchanek came up clutch for the Cincy Flames in a 6-4 win over Rawlings St. Louis Prospects Black — driving in three runs on four singles at the plate and closing the door on Prospects Black in the seventh on the mound, earning a save.

Trey Ganns homered and drove in a pair for the Flames.

Nick Oliff led Prospects Black with two RBI.

Heat Silver finished off pool play undefeated with a 7-6 win over Prospects Black, scoring two runs in the sixth for the victory.

Alex Walker hit a two-run home run and Fregia again led the offense with three RBI, finishing his day with five after his performance against Fort Worth. Fregia, who just completed his sophomore year of high school, collected seven hits, one triple, two homers and six RBI over three games.

Heat Black won all three of its Pool 7 games by no more than three runs — 9-7 over the Cincy Flames on Wednesday and its two wins Thursday.

The Fort Worth Cats Black finished the JayCee slate of four with a 6-4 win over the Flames.

Colton Hoisager proved to be the thorn in the Flames’ side — a double, a home run and four RBI.

This was the first time in three games Cats Black scored more than one run.

EXTRAS

In quite possibly the wildest game of the tournament, the Nebraska Sluggers defeated the Arkansas Rawlings Prospects Cameron 15-8 in eight innings at Seneca (Mo.) High, scoring seven runs in the top of the eighth, nearly as many runs in one inning as the previous seven.

The Sluggers and Prospects Cameron combined for 23 runs, 20 hits and 13 errors, as well as only six pitchers. In a game with all those runs scored, no players collected more than two RBI or three hits — Kane Koeningseder drove in two on three hits in a losing effort.

Oklahoma Fuel and the Dallas Mustangs Randle went the maximum nine innings at Joe Becker Stadium and ended in a 9-all draw. Both teams also finished with 14 hits.

Drake Adair of the Mustangs and Quin Walbergh of the Fuel matched boom sticks, leading their respective teams with three RBI. Will Sprayberry and Zackery Bycko each contributed two RBI for the Fuel, which scored four runs in the sixth to gain a 7-6 advantage.